Pick a handful of words out of the dictionary: honesty, integrity, ethics,
spirituality, responsibility, sight. Or examine your personal motto. Now, do
you really KNOW what they mean? Most have a vague sense
of the meaning of words and use words without really understanding the full scope of what
they could be saying. Our language is a living thing, constantly evolving and
changing. It is old and new, multi-layered and multi-hued, flavored by hundreds of
years of subtle shifts of meaning. Some words seem to have changed meaning all
together. Once we understand what these words mean to us, especially in a magickal
context, we can really start to use them in our lives, POWERFULLY.
So let us begin there, with power.

POWER is having authority or control over other
individuals or situations, or the person who has that authority or control; it is the
ability to generate an effect or commit an act. As magickal people, we strive to
develop our own magickal power to affect change in our lives. How well we can
generate a desired goal in spell work or direct energy in ritual is a measure of how
effective our rituals and spells are. Considering our magickal power can give us
greater insight into where we are strongest and weakest, where we need to work and grow
(and is a great argument for keeping a Book of Shadows).

Priests and Priestesses are considered to be powerful, but where does their power
come from? They certainly have authority or control over situations and groups as
leaders of rituals, covens and groves. But that control is given to them by those
who are members of the covens and groves, by those who attend their rituals, and by those
who had the power to name them as Priest or Priestess. Here, power is a gift.
Priests and Priestesses are empowered in their roles (did I just hit a Buzzword?!).
Sometimes, individuals feel confident enough to name themselves as Priest or Priestess,
and are self empowered.

The most important, I think, of all of these definitions, however, is the
first. Your assignment: ponder this one long and hard; answer these questions and
any and all that your answers produce. What authority and/or control over other
individuals or situations do you have? Should you have control over other
individuals? When is that power wisely used, and when is it corrupted? Most of
us arent power hungry (yet another definition to dive into!), but many are
under-powered, or unempowered, even if only in an area or two of our lives. At risk
of overusing the word What power do you have to empower yourself? How are you
going to act more powerfully in your life tomorrow, or the rest of today?

We all know that words, themselves, have power. We say them and follow up with
So mote it be, dont we? We use words to manifest. A careless
use of words in our mundane lives could be reeking havoc. So the rest of the journey
is up to you, and there is a journey of great proportion to be had, you and your
dictionary and journal or computer. I challenge you to take 15 minutes out of your
day today and examine one word on this list, or one of your own choosing.
Youll never realize what a magickal tool youve had sitting on the shelf all
this time and how wise Mom was when she told you to Look it UP!